Ramar of the
Jungle
. They step into a canoe an be paddlin towards us, an as they get
closer, I seen one of them is got NASA stamped on his pith helmet. We is
finally rescued.
When the canoe reach our shore, the guy with NASA stamped on his
helmet get out an come up to us. He go right up to ole Sue an stick out
his han an say, “Mister Gump, I presume?”
“Where the fuck has you assholes been?” hollared Major Fritch. “We
been stranded in the jungle nearly four goddamn years!”
“Sorry bout that, ma’am,” the feller say, “but we has got our priorities,
too, you know.”
Anyway, we is at last saved from a fate worse than death, an they
loaded us up in the canoe an started paddlin us downriver. One of the
fellers say, “Well folks, civilization is just aroun the corner. I reckon
you’ll all be able to sell your stories to a magazine an make a fortune.”
“Stop the canoe!” Major Fritch suddenly call out.
The fellers look at one another, but they paddle the canoe over to the
bank.
“I have made a decision,” Major Fritch say. “For the first time in my
life, I have found a man that truly understands me, an I am not going to
let him go. For nearly four years, Grurck an I have lived happily in this
land, an I have decided to stay here with him. We will go off in the
jungle an make a new life for ourselfs, an raise a family an live happily
ever after.”
“But this man is a cannibal,” one of the fellers say.
“Eat your heart out, buster,” says Major Fritch, an she an Grurck get
out of the canoe an start back into the jungle again, han in han. Jus
before they disappeared, Major Fritch turn aroun an give Sue an me a
little wave, an then off they go.
I looked back to the end of the canoe, an ole Sue is settin there twistin
his fingers.
“Wait a minute,” I says to the fellers. I go back an set down on the seat
nex to Sue an say, “What you thinkin bout?”
Sue ain’t sayin nothin, but they is a little bitty tear in his eye, an I
knowed then what was bout to happen. He grapped me aroun the
shoulders in a big hug, an then leaped out of the boat an ran up a tree
on the shore. Last we seen of him, he is swingin away thru the jungle on
a vine.
The feller from NASA be shakin his head. “Well, what about you,
numbnuts? You gonna follow your friends there into Bonzoland?”
I looked after them for a minute, then I said, “Uh, uh,” an set back
down in the canoe. Wile they was paddlin us away, don’t you believe I
didn’t think bout it for a moment. But I jus couldnt do it. I reckon I got
other weenies to roast.
They flown me back to America an tole me on the way how there was
to be a big welcome home reception for me, but seems like I have heard
that before.
Sure enough tho, soon as we landed in Washington bout a million
people was on han, cheerin an clappin an actin like they is glad to see
me. They drove me into town in the back seat of a big ole black car an
said they was takin me to the White House to see the President. Yep, I
been there before too.
Well, when we get to the White House, I’m expectin to see the same
ole President what fed me breakfast an let me watch “The Beverly
Hillbillies,” but they is got a new President now—feller with his hair all
slicked back, puffy little cheeks an a nose look like Pinocchio’s.
“Tell me now,” this President say, “did you have an exciting trip?”
A feller in a suit standin next to the President lean over an whisper
somethin to him, an suddenly the President say, “Oh, ah, accually what I
meant was, how great it is that you have escaped from your ordeal in
the jungle.”
The feller in the suit whisper somethin else to the President, an he say
to me, “Er, now what about your companion?”
“Sue?” I say.
“Was that her name?” Now he be lookin at a little card in his han.
“Says here it was a Major Janet Fritch, and that even as you were being
rescued she was dragged off into the jungle by a cannibal.”
“Where it say that?” I axed.
“Right here,” the President say.
“That’s not so,” I says.
“Are you suggesting I am a liar?” say the President.
“I’m jus sayin it ain’t so,” I says.
“Now look here,” say the President, “I am your commander in chief. I
am not a crook. I do not lie!”
“I am very sorry,” I says, “but it ain’t the truth bout Major Fritch. You
jus take that off a card, but—”
“Tape!” the President shout.
“Huh?” I says.
“No, no,” says the feller in the suit. “He said
‘take’
—not ‘tape’—Mister
President.”
“TAPE!” scream the President. “I told you never to mention that word
in my presence again! You are all a bunch of disloyal Communist
swines.” The President be poundin hissef on the knee with his fist.
“None of you understand. I don’t know anything bout anything! I
never heard of anything! And if I did, I either forgot it, or it is top
secret!”
“But Mister President,” say the feller in the suit, “he didn’t say it. He
only said—”
“Now
you
are calling me a liar!” he say. “You’re fired!”
“But you can’t fire me,” the feller say. “I am the Vice President.”
“Well, pardon me for saying so,” says the President, “but you are
never going to make President if you go aroun calling your commander
in chief a liar.”
“No, I guess you’re right,” say the Vice President. “I beg your pardon.”
“No, I beg yours,” the President say.
“Whatever,” say the Vice President, kinda fiddlin with hissef. “If you
will all excuse me now, I have to go pee.”
“That’s the first sensible idea I have heard all day,” say the President.
Then he turn to me an axe, “Say, aren’t you the same fellow that played
ping-pong and saved the life of old Chairman Mao?”
I says, “Yup,” an the President say, “Well what did you want to do a
thing like that for?”
An I says, “Cause he was drownin,” an the President say, “You should
have held him under, instead of saving him. Anyway, it’s history now,
because the son of a bitch died while you were away in the jungle.”
“You got a tv set?” I axed.
The President look at me kind of funny. “Yeah, I have one, but I don’t
watch it much these days. Too much bad news.”
“You ever watch ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’?” I say.
“It’s not on yet,” he say.
“What is?” I axed.
“ ‘To Tell the Truth’—but you don’t want to look at that—it’s a bunch
of shit.” Then he say, “Look here, I have a meeting to go to, why don’t I
walk you to the door?” When we get outside on the porch, an the
President say in a very low voice, “Listen, you want to buy a watch?”
I say, “Huh?” an he step over close to me an shove up the sleeve on
his suit an lo an behole he must of had twenty or thirty wristwatches
aroun his arm.
“I ain’t got no money,” I says.
The President, he roll down his sleeve an pat me on the back. “Well,
you come back when you do and we’ll work something out, okay?”
He shook my han an a bunch of photographers come up an start takin
our picher an then I’m gone. But I’ll say this, that President seem like a
nice feller after all.
Anyhow, I’m wonderin what they gonna do with me now, but I don’t
have to wonder long.
It took bout a day or so for things to quiet down, an they had put me
up in a hotel, but then a couple of fellers come in one afternoon an say,
“Listen here, Gump, the free ride’s over. The government ain’t payin for
none of this anymore—you’re on your own now.”
“Well, okay,” I say, “but how bout givin me a little travelin money to
get home on. I’m kinda light right now.”
“Forget it, Gump,” they say. “You is lucky not to be in jail for conkin
the Clerk of the Senate on the head with that medal. We done you a
favor to get you off that rap—but we is washin our hans of your ass as of
right now.”
So I had to leave the hotel. Since I ain’t got no things to pack, it
wadn’t hard, an I just went out on the street. I walked a wile, down past
the White House where the President live, an to my suprise they is a
whole bunch of people out front got on rubber masks of the President’s
face an they is carryin some kind of signs. I figger he must be pleased to
be so popular with everbody.
Even tho they said they wouldn’t give me no money, one of the fellers
did loan me a dollar before I lef the hotel. First chance I got, I phoned
home to the po house where my mama was stayin to let her know I’m
okay. But one of them nuns says, “We ain’t got no Mrs. Gump here no
longer.”
When I axed where she was, the nun say, “Dunno—she done run off
with some protestant.” I thanked her an hanged up the phone. In a way,
I’m sort of relieved. At least mama done run off with
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